30.03.10

Today marks the start of the LHC research programme with the first attempt for collisions at 7 TeV (3.5 TeV per beam).

Webcasts are available until 18:15 (Central European Summer Time - CEST). The main webcast will include live footage from the control room for the LHC accelerator and from the control rooms of the four main LHC experiments: ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb.

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23.03.10: First attempt at 7 TeV collisions scheduled for 30 March

An LHC operator in the CERN Control Centre
during the record-breaking ramp in beam energy 19 March. Photo: M. Brice / CERN. More photos »

Geneva, 23 March 2010. With beams routinely circulating in the Large Hadron Collider at 3.5 TeV, the highest energy yet achieved in a particle accelerator, CERN has set the date for the start of the LHC research programme. The first attempt for collisions at 7 TeV (3.5 TeV per beam) is scheduled for 30 March.

19.03.10: LHC sets new record – accelerates beams to 3.5 TeV

Geneva, 19 March 2010. At just after 5:20 this morning, two 3.5 TeV proton beams successfully circulated in the Large Hadron Collider for the first time. This is the highest energy yet achieved in a particle accelerator, and an important step on the way to the start of the LHC research programme.

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09.03.10: On the threshold of new territory

CERN Director General Rolf Heuer. Photo: M. Brice / CERN.

The LHC is already over a week into its 2010 run, and the start of physics at 7 TeV is just around the corner. Last week, participants at the annual La Thuile workshop in Italy had the chance to take stock of what lies in store for the LHC’s first physics run. They learned that there’s a great sense of anticipation here at CERN and at particle physics labs around the globe, and for good reason – we’re about to open up the biggest range of potential new discovery that particle physics has seen in over a decade. Read more...

08.03.2010: CERN celebrates International Women's day

Detail of a poster showing some of the women of the CMS collaboration. Images / design: Michael Hoch, CMS

Today CERN will take on a distinctly feminine look as the laboratory celebrates the role of women in physics. Often seen as a male preserve, the reality is rather different, with women playing key roles across all areas of CERN activity.

For women’s day, CERN is encouraging its staff and users to enable as many women as possible to be on shift in the control rooms of the laboratory’s experiments and accelerators, to staff the IT helpdesk and to guide official visits.

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23.02.2010: AMS begins its journey

The AMS experiment at CERN before its journey to the European Space Agency's research and technology centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands. Photo: M. Brice More photos »

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) left CERN on Friday 12th February on the first leg of its journey to the International Space Station (ISS). The special convoy carrying the experiment arrived at the European Space Agency’s research and technology centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands at 4.30 pm on Tuesday 16th February. AMS will then fly to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida before lifting off aboard the space shuttle.

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11.02.2010: Romania becomes a candidate for accession to CERN

Romanian Minister of Education, Research, Youth and Sport, Daniel Petru Funeriu, and CERN Director General, Rolf Heuer, today signed an agreement that formally recognises Romania as a Candidate for Accession to membership of CERN. Romania’s pre-membership will cover a five-year period during which the country’s contributions will ramp up to normal Member State levels, in parallel with Romania's participation in CERN projects. At the end of this five-year period the Council will decide on Romania's application for full membership, as the Organization's 21st Member State.

05.02.10: Towards the longest run in CERN's history

The last new Quench Protection System (nQPS) connectors have been installed More images »

The LHC is being prepared to run at collision energies of 7 TeV over the coming 18-24 months before the next long shut down. This will be the longest phase of continuous accelerator operation in CERN's history.

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20.01.10: The LHC entering a new phase

After achieving the world record energy of 1.18 TeV per proton beam last November, the LHC is now preparing for higher energy and luminosity.

Before the 2009 running period began, all the necessary preparations to run the LHC at the collision energy of 1.18 TeV per beam had been carried out. The goal of the current technical stop, which will end mid-February, is to prepare the machine for running at 3.5 TeV per beam. More information will be available in this Friday's Bulletin, and with the next LHC News.

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08.01.10 Worldwide
LHC Computing Grid in the
starting blocks

Server farm at the LHCb experiment

The Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG) collaboration has been in place since 2001 and for the past several years it has continually run the workloads for the experiments as part of their preparations for LHC data taking. So far, the numerous and massive simulations of the full chain of reconstruction and analysis software could only be carried out using Monte Carlo simulated data. Now, for the first time, the system is starting to work with real data and with many simultaneous users accessing them from all around the world.